Overnight storm downs trees, leaves thousands without power across metro

At its height, more than 90,000 people in the Kansas City metro were without power after Saturday morning’s storms.

As of Saturday night, some still did not have power. Fallen tree branches knocked over power lines. As of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, roughly 12,500 people in the Kansas City metro were still without power.

But power wasn’t all the storm knocked out.

“We’re out here in Lee’s Summit,” explained Tanner McGilton. “Just cleaning this river birch up and taking this down for him.”

For this story, ‘him’ could refer to many homeowners in the metro. Though, on this sunny Saturday afternoon, McGilton, of Tanner’s Treecare, focused on one house off Persels in the Crossing neighborhood in Lee’s Summit.

“My old man called me this morning,” said McGilton, “and told me that there was a bunch of stuff down up here. And I just drove up here, hauled all the equipment up here with me - and sure enough, we found it. Through this area, it’s everywhere.”

But don’t just his word for it. Take Vickie Takacs’. She was sleeping when the storm blew threw.

“The first I heard of it was a loud 'whomp',” she recalled. “I looked outside, and my tree was covered; there was no lightning, it was just kaboom, and the wind was absolutley crazy.”

Crazy that the wind quickly caused so much damage. Tree branches covered her rented home and spilled over onto her car.

Yet, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. “In less than 5 minutes” said Takacs, “the wind was still again. the wind wasn't blowing, nothing.”

Back at the Crossing, McGilton is still working. “Those softwoods trees,” he said, “these things are notorious for snapping.”

For McGilton, money doesn’t grow on trees; it falls from it. ”I got quite a few calls this morning,” he said, “so I’ll probably be booked for a couple weeks after this.”

Naturally, the cost it takes to have a tree removed from your yard varies, but the one McGilton was working was a more than $1,000 job.

To avoid that, McGilton suggests having your trees trimmed and balanced. And note the softwoods: Bradford Pears and River Birch suffered the most in this storm.

The city of Olathe announced that it will provide free bulk pick up this week for storm debris only. To schedule pick up, Olathe residents can call (913) 971-9311 beginning Monday at 8 a.m.

Photo by Cindy Trug

Photo by Cindy Trug

Lee's Summit was also hit particularly hard by the severe weather. Summit Waves water park was without power and closed on Saturday.